SEAMEN'S INSTITUTE 



OF THE 



AMERICAN SEAMEN'S 
FRIEND SOCIETY 




SEAMEN'S INSTITUTE 

OF THE 

AMERICAN SEAMEN'S 
FRIEND SOCIETY 



DOUGLAS C. McMURTRIE 

i 



NEW YORK 
1914 



COPYRIGHT, I9I4, BY THE AMERICAN SEAMEN'S 
ERIEND SOCIETY 



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JUL 16 I9I4@)CIA376679 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 027233 



IXS.T1TVTK OF T H K A M K R I C A N S E A M E N S F RIKXD S O C 



NEW YORK is the first port in America and the 
second in the world. Seamen to the number of 
qoo,ooo pass through its harbor gates every year. 

In the heart of the busiest section of the port, adja- 
cent to the transatlantic liners, coast and gulf vessels, 
between Christopher and 23rd Streets, surrounded 
by ^,000 seamen of all nationalities stands the Institute 
of the American Seamen's Friend Society. 

It has passed the stage of experimentation, justified 
its existence and proven its worth, and its Board of 
Management can point to five years of splendid service 
and an aggregate attendance of one million six hundred 
thousand seamen. 

A sailorman's immediate need when he arrives in 
port is a home; some place where he can find rest, 
safety and comfort. Between his immediate need of a 
home and his ultimate need of the Gospel he has many 
common wants. He has a " wanting heart" with 
social instincts craving, and aspirations after the good 
things in life. The Institute supplies all his w r ants and 
needs as a man and a stranger. 



L 3 J 



NSTITUT E O 1" T 11 E A M E R I C A N S K A M E N S FRIEND SOCI E T Y 




THE DOOR OF WELCOME 



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I X S T ! T V T 




A VIEW from the Institute windows — the first 
port of America and the second of the world. A 
multitude of sailormen are streaming through it every 
day. There is no lack of evil influences awaiting them, 
and too few opportunities for rest and recreation among 
decent surroundings. 



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I X S T I T I' T K 1 I HE A M K R I C A N SEAMEN S FRIEND S O C I E T Y 




HOMEWARD bound, laded with bright dollars 
and dirty clothes. The way into the Institute is a 
course of decency and health, both moral and spiritual. 



[6] 



NST1 T DTE 



1 1 1 E A M i: RICA N S B A M E N S 1- K I K N I> S O C I E T Y 




I 



S THERE anything as I can do ashore for you, 
When you've dropped down the tide? 

You can take 'n' tell Nan Vm goin 

about the world agen, 
W that the world's wide 
W tell her that there ain't no 

postal service 
Not down the deep blue sea! 



The Institute's postal service keeps the seaman in 
touch with his home — 200,000 letters have passed over 
the desk. 



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ins ri r v T E 



1 1 1 1 A M E K I C A N S E A M E N S FRIEND SOCIETY 




THE sailor's hotel — and far different from the 
other hotels and lodging houses on the water- 
front. This hostelry caters to more than the purse 
of its guests. 



L8] 



I N S T I T I" T K O F T H K A M E R I C A N S E A M E N S V R I E N 1) S O C I E T Y 



v*1 


1 1 

Wl a MM 




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■M ^ \M 


HKJH^H 


1 1 



A 

him. 



N OLD salt of thirty years' experience, and a 
with but thirty days behind 



young cabin boy 



INSTITUTE O F T H K A M K R I C A N SEAMEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY 




ONE OF THE ROOMS 



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INSTITUTE O F 111 E A M E K 1 C A N S E A M E N S F R I E N D SOCI E T V 



TWENTY-FIVE cents for twenty hours' seven foot 
three by six foot three of cleanliness, comfort, 
and privacy. 

Simple men in forecastles 
AirCt no plaster saints. 

The best argument for the need of the Institute is 
the demand for rooms. There are more applications 
for rooms from seamen than we can fill. 

The way to fight the boarding-master is to give 
the seaman something better than he gets in the 
common sailor's boarding house. 



[in 



1 1 1 K A M 1 ■: R I C A N S R A M B N S F K I E N IJ SOCIETY 



Forty Years at Sea 

/ must go down to the seas again 

to the vagrant gipsy life, 
To the gulVs way and the whale's way 

where the wind's like a whittled knife, 
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a 

laughing fellow rover, 
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream 

when the long trick's over. 



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INSTITUTE OF Til E A M E R I C A N S K A M B N S F R I E N D S O C I E T Y 




A VANISHING TYPE 



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I N S T I T r T B O F T H E A M K R I C A N S E A M E N S F RIKXI) S O C I 



BETTER THINGS 

/ rested in an ale-house that had a sanded floor, 

Where seamen sat a drinking and chalking up the score, 

They yarned of ships and mermaids, of topsail sheets and slings, 

But I was discontented; I looked for better things. 



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I N S T I T I" T K OK THE AMERICA N S E A M E N S F R I E N D S O C I K T V 




B 



ETTER things. 



'"But that there' 's by the way" says he, 
" The yarn Vm goivC to spin 
Is about myself 'n' the life I led in 
the last ship I was in" 



INSTITO T B 



A M E R I C A X S E A M K X S F R I K X D SOCIETY 




B 



ETTER things — checkers provides a good means 
of passing the time while ashore. 



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INSTITUTE OK THE A M E R I C A N S E A M ENS V R I E N D S O C I E T Y 




B 



ETTER things — there are adequate facilities in 
the Institute for billiards and pool. 



^ 



M E K I C A N S E A M E N S F R I E N 



S O C I E T Y 




A 



CONCERT at the Institute. These are given 
weekly and are largely attended. 



/ yarned with ancient shipmen beside the galley range 
And some were fond of women, but all were fond of change 
They sang their quavering chanties, all in a fo'c's'le drone. 



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I N S'T I T r T K 



THE A M 1 K I C A N S E \ M 1' N 




THE Institute meets every need of every man. It 
has a laundry where a man can wash his own 
clothes and get readv for sea. 



N S T I T V T K (1 F T II B A M K R I C A N S K A M K N S F R I K N I) S O C I K T V 




AN INSTITUTE group — one American, two Irish- 
men, a Swede, a Hollander, and a Scotchman. 
They represent an aggregate of one hundred years of 
sea service. 



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N ST ] T I" T K O F T H E A M E RICA N S E A M 



[END SO C I E I ' \ 




A SAILOR must eat — and here he can eat where he 
need not drink as well. In a clean and attractive 
restaurant on the Institute premises a good hearty din- 
ner is served for twentv-five cents. 



A M B R I C A N 



NO SOCIETY 




THE Institute is frequented by thousands of stok- 
ers of transatlantic and tramp steamers. Hard- 
working, industrious men, most of them. It is their 
haven of rest. 

Loaf in' around in Sailor Town, 

ablowin' in my advance, 
I met some derelict firemen who 

let me a merry dance, 
It's a solemn gospel, mate; he 

says, but a man as ship's abroad 
A steamer-tramp, he gets his whack 

of the wonders of the Lord. 



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XS.TITVT 



T H E A M 1 RICA N S E A M E N S V K I K N I ) S O C I 1" T Y 




EVENING prayers in the Church of the Sea, a 
sailor's Church with its membership scattered 
over the seven seas. On its walls are hung the por- 
traits of the former chaplains of the Society who have 
served the sailors in all parts of the world. The sailor's 
prayer-hymn is sung at the close of every service. 



Oh hear us zvhen we pray to Thee, 
For those in peril on the Sea. 



A M 1". K [CAN S E A M K N S F R I K N 



A Statistical Tale of Five Years 

Religious: 

Church of the Sea (attendance) 30,686 

Visits to hospitals 1,485 

Men sent to hospitals and received from hospitals I 5 °95 

Philanthropic: 

Money handled for seamen ...... $108,246.11 

Letters written and received 201,918 

Comfort bags distributed 499 

Visits to ships 3?°87 

Charity Department: 

Free Meals (to sick, shipwrecked) .... 6,024 

Free Beds (and destitute seamen) .... 6,834 

Social: 

Attendance at concerts 94>95 x 

Billiard matches (Atlantic Billiard League) . . 63 

Educational: 

Bundles of literature 17,568 

Aggregate Attendance of Seamen in all Depart- 
ments 1,549,427 



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S E A M K N S V R I E XI) S O C I E T Y 



The Support of the Institute 

The Institute budget is about #25,000 

Income from the Institute . . . ■ . . . . 15,000 

Contributions from all sources 5, 000 

Deficiency .... 5, 000 

Contributions for the support of the work are constantly 
needed to support the religious work (mark contribu- 
tions Institute Fund). 

Sustaining members, #2. 

Furnish a Sailor's Room, #35. 

Endowment Fund for Church of the Sea, needed #50,000. 

Total Extension and Endowment Fund, #100,000. 

A promise of #25,000 has been made to this 
Fund, and other contributions are solicited. 



Make checks payable to 

American Seamen's Friend Society 
Clarence C. Pinneo, Treasurer 
16 Wall Street 

New York City 



A M E RICA N S E A M E N S F R I E N I) S C) C I E T Y 



THE AMERICAN Seamen's Friend Society's Gen- 
eral offices are situated in the institute, 507 West 
Street, X. Y. 

LOAN LIBRARIES 

For fifty years the Society has provided the books and 
guided the reading of the sailors on American vessels it 
has sent to sea; 11,826 loan libraries and nearly three 
quarters of a million volumes of good literature have gone 
down to the sea in ships. 

The Society in eighty-six years has founded Seamen's 
Mission Societies in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark 
and planted stations in China, Japan, Chile, the South 
Sea Islands, India, Australia, Labrador, and in twelve 
states in the Union, nearly all of them self-sustaining. 

WORK 

The work of American Seamen's Friend Society is to 
improve the social, mental, moral and religious condition 
of the seamen of the world. 

The Institute is under the direction of a standing committee of the 
American Seamen s Social Society 

Port and Sailor's Home Committee 

Theodore L. Peters, Chairman 

William H. VanSteenbergh Charles B. Parsons 

Fritz v. Briesen 



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INS'TITUTE OK THE AMERICAN S 1 5 A M ) £ N S F R I E N D SOCIET Y 



American Seamen's Friend Society 

Organized May. 1828 Incorporated April, 1833 

President 
John B. Calvert, D. D. 

Vice-Presidents 

Anton A. Raven 

Nehemiah Boynton, D. D. 

Secretary 
Rev. George McPherson Hunter 

Treasurer 
Clarence C. Pinneo 

Honorary Vice-Presidents 
Hon. Theodore Roosevelt 

Hon. John D. Long 

Hon. W. H. Moody 

Rev. Edward B. Coe, D. D. 
Hon. George B. Courtelyou 

Hon. George von L. Meyer 

Capt. A. H. Rostron 

Hon. Josephus Daniels 



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S S T 1 T I' T K O F T II E A M K R I C A N S R A M I N S F R I E N D SOCIETY 



Board of Trustees 
Class of 1914 
Anton A. Raven 

.">1 Wall Street. New York 

Nehemiah Boynton, D.D. 

379 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn 

Frederick B. Dalzell 

70 South Street, New York 

Capt. Charles B. Parsons 

Red Bank. N. J. 

Fritz v. Briesen 

25 Broad Street. New York 

Theodore L. Peters 

44 Pine Street, New York 

Class of 1915 
Daniel Barnes 

7<i Wall .Street, New York 

Alexander Torrance 

45 Exchange Place. New York 

Morton C. Coggeshall 

59 Liberty Street, New York 

William H. YanSteenbergh 

10 Wall Street, New York 

COURTLANDT C. CLARKE 

70 West 55th Street, New York 

Roger H. Williams 

31 West 12th Street, New York 
Class of 1916 

John B. Calvert, D.D. 

156 Fifth Avenue, New York 

Augustus T. Post 

136 West 44th Street, New York 

Edward M. Cutler 

56 Pine Street, New York 

Capt. Henry a I. Randall 

207 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Arthur H. Allen 

38 Park Place. New York 



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